Hi! I have recently taken an interest in making sourdough bread and artisanal bread. So I finally started my sourdough starter and it has been over a week. In all my research it has told me to not use bleached flour but it was the only thing available near me, but now it has been nearly 10 days and my starter does not double in size. During the first few days of my starter it has been doubling or tripling in size, now it has stopped.
The days of starting my starter, I was not aware of the hooch and threw some away before discarding and feeding my starter. Was it the cause? or is it the bleached flour? Can I revive my starter by finding whole wheat flour and feeding it that? Or should I discard it all and start new with whole wheat flour?
Any advise on what to do or fix would be deeply appreciated. Thank you!
Keep your present starter and feed in Whole Grain Wheat or better yet Whole Grain Rye,.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62583/tip-sourdough-starters
How much do I use with my present starter?
your starter? Especially early in the starters development you can kill it with kindness, if you are feeding too often instead of strengthening it you are diluting the culture.
Should I only continue with a 1:1:1 ratio?
Bleached white may take 3 weeks or more to get going. Since already this far into it just keep going. Adjust feed to activity - little activity, little food, lots of activity lots of food. Stir vigorously a few times a day. Enjoy!
If it has a lot of air bubbles is that lots of activity or did I cover it too tight? and do I stir randomly a few times a day? Thank you!
Bubbles and rising, if it's thick enough to show, are signs of activity. Stirring - if possible, something like every 12 hrs. Enjoy!
Phaz is one of the best with a starter (and more!).
Feed according to activity. Watch your bubbles. Got some bubbles? Sprinkle some flour in there to feed the bubbles (yeast).
Time with rise. When it peaks, feed!
DanAyo has the best advise: use rye! It's the best thing going because yeast comes from flour and rye has the most yeast.
Murph
I made my starter using bleached flour. Although it was successful in the end, it took a long time. I no longer remember precisely how long, but it was at least several weeks. You'll probably be fine if you just keep going.